Using the ABC method described in Using Artificial Intelligence In the Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process, here is another ancestor couple biography using the Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 AI tool.
3) The Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 biography (lightly edited for accuracy) is:
The Story of Zachariah and Elizabeth Hildreth
A Revolutionary War Family of Westford, Massachusetts
Zachariah’s Early Years
Zachariah Hildreth was born on December 28, 1728, in Chelmsford, Massachusetts Bay Colony, to James Hildreth and Dorothy Prescott. His birth was carefully recorded in the Chelmsford town records, as was the custom of the time. James and Dorothy had married in 1721 and went on to have a large family of nine children who survived infancy.
Zachariah grew up in a bustling household with eight siblings. His older brother Oliver, born in 1723, would eventually settle in Townsend. His older sister Rebecca married James Dutton in 1750. Among his younger siblings were Anna, two sisters named Dorothy (the first died as a toddler), Amos, Lucy, and Samuel, though young Samuel died at just three years old in 1748.
As a young man, Zachariah began to make his own way in the world. In February 1753, just before his marriage, the Westford selectmen paid him one pound and two shillings for delivering eleven loads of wood to Mr. Craft—likely a minister or town official—for his “support and comfort the winter past.” It was honest work, the kind that built character and reputation in a small colonial town.
Elizabeth’s Beginnings
Elizabeth Prescott was born on September 15, 1734, in Westford, Massachusetts Bay Colony. She was the third child of Jonas Prescott and his second wife, Elizabeth Harwood. Her father Jonas served as the town clerk and carefully recorded his daughter’s birth in his own hand in the town records.
Elizabeth’s early childhood was marked by tragedy. She had an older brother, Elijah, who died within days of his birth in 1732. Her mother Elizabeth Harwood bore another son, Isaac, in 1738, but he too died in infancy. A younger brother Benjamin was born in 1739 but lived only sixteen months. These losses were heartbreakingly common in colonial New England, where childhood mortality was a constant shadow over family life.
When Elizabeth was just five years old, her mother died in 1739. Jonas Prescott remarried the following year to Rebecca Jones, and they would have two more children. Elizabeth grew up in this blended family, learning the skills she would need as a wife and mother in colonial Massachusetts—spinning, weaving, cooking, preserving food, and managing a household.
Building a Life Together
Zachariah and Elizabeth were married on April 12, 1753, in Westford. He was 24 years old, and she was 18. The marriage was recorded simply in the town records: “Zechariah Hildreth to Elizabeth Prescott both of Westford.” That December, just eight months after their wedding, they joined the Second Church in Chelmsford as members together, declaring their faith publicly as a married couple.
The couple settled into life in Westford and began raising what would become a remarkably large family. Their first child, a son they named Zachariah after his father, was born on January 13, 1754. Over the next twenty-one years, Elizabeth would give birth to eleven more children: Elizabeth (1755), Hannah (1758), and then twins Timothy and Esther in 1760, followed by James (1762), Lucy (1764), Jonas (1766), Ruth (1768), Edy (1771), Jesse (1773), and finally Mehitable in 1775.
Remarkably, all twelve children survived infancy and most lived to adulthood—a testament to Elizabeth’s care and perhaps a bit of good fortune in an era of high childhood mortality. The household must have been lively and loud, with children of all ages learning their trades, doing chores, and growing up together in their Westford home.
Making a Living in Colonial Massachusetts
The town records paint a picture of Zachariah as a hardworking man who contributed regularly to the community. Year after year, he appears in the selectmen’s orders for payment—usually for working on the highways (the roads that connected the town) or for delivering wood to Mr. Craft.
In January 1755, he received two pounds and two pence for highway work. In February of that year, he was paid one pound, four shillings, and eight pence for wood and pine delivered to Mr. Craft. The payments continued through the years: in 1757, one pound and ten shillings for highway work; in 1758, four shillings for wood; in 1759, multiple payments totaling several pounds for wood, corn, and “sundry other articles.”
These weren’t large sums, but they were steady. Zachariah was providing essential services—maintaining the roads that everyone used and supplying firewood to keep homes warm through brutal New England winters. In 1773, he took on the role of town constable, a position of trust and authority. That year he collected sixty-one pounds, fifteen shillings, and six pence in five payments—substantial money for the time.
Service in the Revolution
When tensions with Britain erupted into war in 1775, Zachariah stepped up to serve. By April 1776, he had been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in Captain Zachariah Wright’s 8th Company, which was also known as the 2nd Westford Company, part of the 6th Middlesex County Regiment of the Massachusetts militia.
This was the height of the Revolutionary War. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought just a year earlier, less than ten miles from Westford. The siege of Boston was ending, and the Declaration of Independence would be signed just a few months later. Zachariah was 47 years old at the time of his commission, with a wife and nine children at home (the youngest, Jesse, was just two years old, and Elizabeth was pregnant with their last child, Mehitable).
The records don’t tell us what Lieutenant Hildreth did during the war years, but the militia companies were called up regularly to defend against British raids, guard prisoners, and support the Continental Army. It was dangerous work, and it took him away from his farm and family during crucial planting and harvest seasons.
Final Years
By 1781, Zachariah’s health was failing. On May 9 of that year, feeling “sick and weak in body but of a sound disposing mind,” he drafted his will. It’s a remarkable document that gives us a window into his character and concerns.
He began with the traditional religious language of the era, commending his soul to God and expressing his hope for “full and free pardon of all my sins and to inherit everlasting life.” Then he got down to the practical business of providing for his family.
To his “beloved wife Elizabeth,” he left considerable property: two cows and a heifer of her choosing, one pig, two sheep and two lambs, two feather beds with bedding, half the household furniture, and a third of all his possessions. She would have the use of half the house, half the cellar, the well, half the barn, his clock and case of drawers, and specific pieces of land. He also left her use of a pair of oxen and farming tools so she could work the land and support herself.
Interestingly, he left his oldest son Zachariah only five shillings, and his daughter Hannah only five pounds, explaining that “I have given them portions out of my estate already.” This suggests he had already helped them get established in their own homes—young Zachariah had married Elizabeth Keyes in 1777, and Hannah had married Timothy Hildreth (a cousin) that same year.
The rest of his estate was to be divided among his other four sons (Timothy, James, Jonas, and Jesse) and six daughters (Elizabeth, Esther, Lucy, Ruth, Edy, and Mehitable), with sons receiving double shares compared to daughters—a common practice that reflected the greater financial burdens men faced in that era. He appointed his son Timothy and a local physician, Dr. Asaph Fletcher, as executors.
Lieutenant Zachariah Hildreth died on April 18, 1784, just shy of his 58th birthday (though his gravestone mistakenly gives his birth year as 1754). He was buried in Westlawn Cemetery in Westford, where his gravestone still stands today.
The inventory of his estate, taken in July 1785, valued his personal property at 181 pounds, 7 shillings, and 1 pence, with real estate worth 582 pounds, 13 shillings—a substantial estate that reflected a lifetime of hard work. His son Timothy, as executor, carefully paid out the legacies to each sibling over the following years.
Elizabeth’s Widowhood
After Zachariah’s death, Elizabeth lived for another 28 years. She was just 49 years old when she was widowed, still vigorous enough to manage property and maintain relationships with her large, extended family. She likely lived with one or more of her children during these years, moving between households as was common for widows.
Elizabeth drafted her own will on August 1, 1808, when she was 73 years old. By this time, two of her sons had died—James in 1789 at just 26 years old, and Jonas in 1808. Her will reveals her continued closeness to her daughters. She left all her clothing to be divided among her six daughters: Hannah, Esther, Lucy, Ruth, Edy, and Mehitable. To Edy, who apparently never married and may have been caring for her, she left two cows, two beds with bedding, and all the household furniture.
She gave four acres of woodland to her son-in-law William Whiting, who had married her daughter Lucy. She forgave debts that her son Timothy and the children of her late son Jonas owed her—notes totaling 188 dollars, which represented significant sums. To her sons Zachariah and “John” (there’s no John in the birth records, so this is likely Jesse or a recording error), she left one dollar each, they likely havng had their portion of Zachariah's estate..
Elizabeth died on May 1, 1812, at the age of 77, in Westford. She was buried beside Zachariah in Westlawn Cemetery. Her gravestone reads simply: “In memory of Elizabeth Hildreth wife of Zachariah Hildreth, who died May 1, 1812 AE 77.”
Their Children and Descendants
The twelve children of Zachariah and Elizabeth grew up to scatter across Massachusetts, raising their own families and continuing the Hildreth and Prescott lines.
- Zachariah Jr. (1754–1829) married twice (first to Elizabeth Keyes who died in 1793, and then to Abigail Hart) and had sixteen children between his two wives. He eventually settled in Townsend, Massachusetts, where he died at age 75
- Elizabeth (1755–1803) married Samuel Richardson in 1784. They had no children, and she died at 47 in Westford.
- Hannah (1758–1826) married her cousin Timothy Hildreth in 1777 when she was just 19. They had ten children and moved to Sterling, Massachusetts, where she died at 67.
- Esther (1760–?) was one of the twins. She married Thomas Brown in 1791 and had three children. Her death date is not recorded.
- Timothy (1760–?), Esther’s twin, left no further records after his birth. He may have died young or moved away.
- James (1762–1789) died unmarried at just 26 in Townsend, perhaps working with his older brother Zachariah there.
- Lucy (1764–1845) married William Whiting in 1786 and had five children. She lived the longest of all the siblings, dying at age 81 in Westford.
- Jonas (1766–1808) married Deliverance Johnson in 1794 but died young at 41, leaving behind the debt his mother later forgave in her will.
- Ruth (1768–1829) married Abel Hildreth in 1802 when she was 34—quite late for a colonial marriage. They had ten children, and she died at 60 in Westford.
- Edy (1771–1819) apparently never married and seems to have cared for her mother in old age, which is why Elizabeth left her the bulk of her estate. She died at 47 in Westford.
- Jesse (1773–1840) married Olive Fletcher in 1801 and had ten children. He lived to 66, dying in Westford.
- Mehitable (1775–1819), the youngest, married twice—first to Seth Hildreth in 1797 (with whom she had two children) and then to Joseph Adams in 1805 (with whom she had three more). She died at 43 in Westford.
The Hildreth family lived through extraordinary times. When Zachariah was born in 1728, Massachusetts was still a British colony under King George II. When he died in 1784, the American Revolution had been won, and the Constitution was just a few years from being ratified.
Life in Westford would have been shaped by agriculture and the changing seasons. The town, incorporated in 1729, was still relatively young and small—probably no more than a few hundred families. Everyone knew everyone else. The church was the center of social life, and town meetings decided matters of common concern.
The family would have experienced the growing tensions with Britain firsthand. The Stamp Act of 1765 affected everyone. The Boston Massacre in 1770 would have been hotly discussed. The Boston Tea Party in 1773 happened the same year Zachariah served as constable. And then came April 19, 1775—the day British soldiers marched through nearby towns on their way to Concord, sparking the war that would consume the next eight years.
Through it all, Zachariah and Elizabeth kept their household running, raised their children, and contributed to their community. They weren’t famous figures or wealthy landowners, but they were exactly the kind of people who made the American Revolution possible and built the foundation of the new nation.
Legacy
Today, Zachariah and Elizabeth Hildreth rest side by side in Westlawn Cemetery in Westford, their gravestones weathered by more than two centuries of New England winters. Their descendants spread across America, carrying forward the Hildreth and Prescott names.
What they left behind was more than property and genealogical records. They left a legacy of service, faith, hard work, and family. They witnessed the birth of a nation and helped build a community. They raised twelve children in an era when simply surviving childhood was an achievement.
This is the story of our ancestors—ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives during revolutionary times. May we remember them well.
Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.
Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver
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